Following last week’s announcement of a plan to lay off port of Eilat workers, the port of Ashdod board of directors, the Histadrut, and the Ashdod port workers’ union announced a program that will allow around 30 port of Eilat operations workers to begin work in Ashdod. The initiative is a project of the Histadrut’s transportation and port workers’ union, which represents workers at both ports.
Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea led to an 85% decrease in activity at the port of Eilat since the start of the war. That decrease in activity resulted in a layoff of about half of the port of Eilat’s 120 workers.
According to the agreement, Eilat port workers will work in Ashdod until the Eilat port returns to full operation. The port of Ashdod will pay their wages, and the Histadrut and the port of Eilat will be responsible for the workers’ lodging in Ashdod.
Histadrut Chair Arnon Bar-David called the program “an important initiative.” “The Histadrut will continue to act and to attempt to support every sector that has been hurt because of the ongoing war, according to our values of mutual responsibility, partnership, and care for the other. Acts like these, that unite us and connect us, strengthen the economic resilience of the state of Israel, and we will continue promoting them as much as is required. I thank the board of directors and management of the port of Ashdod, who pitched in for the move and agreed to be a home for the workers. I have no doubt that both ports will be enriched by the initiative.”
Shaul Shneider, chair of the Ashdod port board, said of the initiative, “At this moment when the state of Israel is at war and the port of Eilat is not functioning, it’s our responsibility to look out for the workers of the port of Eilat who were harmed by the war and to allow them to make an honest living and not be out of work. Taking in the workers will answer the needs of the port of Ashdod for additional workers.”
In his statement about the initiative, Ashdod port CEO Nissan Levi called mutual responsibility the “foremost value of this era.” “I am convinced that the arrival of workers from the Eilat port will bring additional value to the port of Ashdod and will allow it to meet its high standards of service and responsiveness for the port customers. Only through partnership can we support the workers of the port of Eilat, Israeli industry, and the national struggle.”
Nir Eisenberg, director of the maritime division in the Histadrut’s transportation workers’ union, said, “Solidarity hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s right here, in all its strength. I thank the union members who took initiative and the management of the seaports of Ashdod and Eilat for their willingness and their sacrifice for the good of the collective. Only through collective responsibility can we overcome every barrier.”
